Whatever It Takes Love
by shippingshrub
Summary: Akira is a Woman of science, though she found the supernatural fascinating,she was a pessimist through and through, and as such could never bring her self to believe fantastical things like reincarnation or the idea of a god. Until one day she wakes up with smaller then normal hands and a ache in her bones like she just got hit by a truck.
1. Chapter 1

"Team 7"

"Uchiha Sasuke"

Ah, there it came, team seven. Akira already knew who was in team seven for she had seen this very scene play out on the pages of her favorite manga growing up.

Next Iruka Sensei would call out Haruno Sakura and the girl would jump with he would call out Uzumaki Naruto and he would jump with joy.

It was the fate of those three children to be together. Akira would go to another team of new people she had probably never met. But that wasn't saying much as she slept through any free time and just generally lacked the conversational skills, and patience, to make friends with preteens.

"Suzuki Akira"

"Uzumaki Naruto"

* * *

It was the day after her 36 birthday and 12 anniversary of marrying the love of her life.

Nana Takahashi

She was a immigrant from Japan, just like Akira's parents one was from Mexico and one was from Japan. They had met in college and started dating in there last year and 4 years later they got married. Life was good she worked for a translating company and Nana and her were thinking about adopting a child.

After there celebration she had returned to work as normal and as she was walking home it happened

She turned her head to see a truck a few feet away and moving at full speed and a calm washed over her .

Oh is this the end? It was a good life at least.

Then she woke up in Konoha's hospital were a nurse and quickly came in to comfort her which she had found odd until she realized she looked like a 4 year old

The first few weeks was spent on pain meds and with the constant thought of this was some sort of pre-death dream she would wake up from eventually. Or maybe it it was the after life but she doubted that since this place wasn't very heavenly, the bed was stif, the room to sterile and the nurses so carful with her it felt patronizing.

* * *

The second her name left Iruka's mouth a hot wave of panic mixed with dizziness and flooded her Brain, her eyes shot to the original team seven in panic. Well hidden from the eyes of children though Iruka Sensei would probably see it if he spared a glance.

This wasn't right it had to be a mistake

"Iruka Sensei could you repeat the names of team seven please!"

Iruka Sensei I gave her a reprimanding gaze and said-

"Uchiha Sasuke"

"Suzuki Akira"

"Uzumaki Naruto"

"Be more attentive in the future"

She felt her hands shake

This was a unaccounted for change

And since when did she become the top Kunoichi in the class

Granted she had never actually bothered to check the score boards always assuming she would make average scores

And now here she was a facing a unknown for her stupidity

* * *

Kakashi analyzed the three files in front of him with a lazy eye

Unlike his last few Genin teams this team was special or at least to member of the team were special

Uchiha Sasuke the last loyal Uchiha and sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre, top Shinobi of his class, and a flight risk possessing the Sharingan. Kakashi was the only Jounin that could teach him how to wield them. His file described him as a genius with very few around his age group with the potential to beat him in the talent department, half teachers sung his praises as a genius and the other half described him as arrogant,vengeful,and saw to much of his younger self in the boy.

Uzumaki Naruto the son of his late Sensei the yondaime the Kyuubi Jinchuriki ,dead last of his class, and orphan. The boy looked so much like his father but with his mothers hot blooded was like looking at a young Obito with different coloring, if the similarity's to his Genin team continued he would actually start to get teachers described him as a loudmouth prankster, he was sure they were thinking a lot more they couldn't put on paper.

Suzuki Akira the top Kunoichi and the only person in their class to give Sasuke a run for his money, constantly switching ranks with him.a note in the corner of the file said they found her half dead on the out skirts of Konoha when she was 4. Top of her class with no competition in the civilian academy she had been adopted by a heavily decorated retired field medic. The teachers described her as lazy ,unsocial, and bit of a looked painfully similar to Rin, the 3 biggest differences were her bangs half pinned with a purple clip and half getting in her face, her sun kissed skin that distinctly made her look foreign, and the grimaced that looked like it was supposed to be a smile but couldn't quite make it.

An interesting team this was so similar to his yet so different.

* * *

Akira was spaced out until the last Jounin came to pick up there team. She looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, Her heart clenched when she looked at Naruto, a person she had watched grow up as she did he would always hold a special place in her heart wether he ever knew it or not.

This clearly wasn't the way she should start out her relationship with her knew teammates and she had always wanted to be Naruto friend but feared what she would change but that wasn't a problem anymore

When she got up she the sound of her chair felt Loud in the quiet room but the boys did not look over as expected. She chose the chair in the farthest corner for a reason, it was out of the way a clear sign to leave her alone and no where near any of the rookie 9s seats

Her steps were silent, something she had practiced for a long time.

* * *

She loved Konoha

She loved it more then her home world

She loved the miles of trees and the flower fields and the old buildings and people with stores of there youth you could always find if you looked hard enough, she loved there and there language and smells and warmth.

She loved Konoha within the first year of living here she vowed to protect her home, her warmth.

She loved the Konoha 12 , these people that didn't know her but she knew them had seen them at there lows, watched them die and grieved with there loved one.

The day she walked into class and saw there bickering and chatting she feel in love and vowed to protect them they were near children at the time, so small and breakable and she feared she would break them.

These people were warm and happy while she was cold and bitter,like almost everyone was in the motherland.

She had felt tainted

They didn't deserve to be cold and bitter

They deserved happiness and warmth.

She could only think to give it to them, a promise they would never know of. A promise that no one would die, even if she had to change places with them.

That day she found her nindo

Her dream

Her ninja way


	2. trial and tribulations of the Genin exam

Naruto jumped when she grabbed the seat next to him and plopped down.

"Hey, the names Akira "

Naruto looked at her through squinted eyes for a second before smiling and saying "the names Naruto"

* * *

Much to Akira and Naruto's delight they had hit it off immediately.

There personalities bounced off each other's smoothly and Akira could tell she had made a new friend, the first friend she had ever made in this world. Not counting Dono

There happy chatter lit up the room for the hours it took kakashi to arrive , and it felt like no time passed at all.

So when Kakashi arrived the only one irritated was Sasuke.

* * *

When Kakashi slid open the door he was expecting a prank, maybe the typical chalk board eraser prank, or something of that nature but when he opened the door nothing happened.

There was Sasuke sitting and staring brutishly at a wall, and Naruto talking excitedly with his new teammate.

They all turned to him and had a moment of silence as they stared.

"My first impression of you 3.."

"Your boring."

Naruto's blank stare morphed in to one of anger as kakashi turned around and said "meet me on the roof"

* * *

"Alright, how about you introduce yourselves"

"Hold on Sensei! We know nothing about you, so how about you introduce your self first"

Kakashi sighed through his mask and said" very well"

"I'm Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes..."

"I don't feel like telling you that"

"My dreams for the future..."

"Never really thought about it"

"And my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies"

"Hold on, all he did was tell us his name!"muttered a annoyed Naruto to a nostalgic Akira.

"You on the right, your turn" kakashi Sensei said in a lazy drawl.

Naruto pouted before saying "the names Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen and especially eating ramen with Iruka sensei at Ichiraku's noodle shop! But I hate the 3 minutes I have to wait before my ramen is done. My hobbies are tasting different kinds of ramen and comparing them and my dream for the future is the be the greatest Hokage ever!"

"Next"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain somebody."

Before the tension in the situation could even settle Akira was tackling Sasuke to the ground and yelling in English " (Jesus Christ of overly edgy prick boo hoo my family's dead get over it!)" Of course no one knew she was saying this as none in her presence knew English, within seconds kakashi was grabbing both kids that had by now started having a full on brawl gender forgotten. "Calm down you two!" Kakashi dropped Sasuke in his previous spot and moved Akira to the other side of Naruto, who was by now looking between both kids in shock.

"And you" kakashi said now sitting closer in case the girl didn't take the silent warning, and leaped over Naruto to continue her brawl, at least he could cross out potential fangirl from his mental notes. But now he would have to add potential violent tendencies to her file.

"I'm Suzuki Akira, I like training and dogs, I dislike over serious (pricks) and fan girls" she said while sending a unimpressed look to Sasuke"

"what's a (prick)?" Naruto said in unintentional very accented English "oh it's just a term in my 1st language I would translate it but there's no good translation for it in Japanese sorry." Akira answered with a sweat drop as she fiddled with her bell choker, he now noticed he had not heard it jingle until she started fiddling with it. "anyway! My hobbies are reading history books and feeding stray dogs," "and my dream for the future is to get super strong and have really cool rock hard abs"

"Ok so now that's over, we have a survival exercise tomorrow" kakashi paused and looked at the potential Genin for dramatic effect "this exercise will decide wether you are fit to become ninja's or not"

"But sensei, I thought we were already ninja, we passed a test and everything!"Naruto said in confusion.

"Nope, that test was to weed out the weakest" he chuckled menacingly "out of the 27 graduates only 9 will pass this test, the other 18 will fail and go back to the academy"

"Meet me at good luck"and with that he Shunshined away.

"Hey Naruto"Akira said blank faced "wanna go get some ramen."

"Sure.."

* * *

By the time they were done with there ramen the sun had began to set and they walked in opposite directions to there homes.

* * *

When Akira got home she took off her Sandals and set them in there usual spot, then carefully counted the amount of shoes at the door.

One, her pair of sandals, like always.

"I'm home!"she waited a few second and a old saggy blood hound trotted over to her and licked her hand, like always, "hey Dono" she scratched behind the dogs brown ears and it wagged it's tail weakly, like always.

She unclamped her ankle and wrist weights and set them on the coffee table,like always

She turned on the lights to her empty home and closed the sliding door to the garden, left open just wide enough for dono to get into the garden, like always.

Akira lived in the Suzuki compound though she was not a Suzuki by blood, Suzuki Kenichi was the last remaining by blood.

Almost every Clan member had been killed in the Kyuubi attack, they were a clan known for excellent medics and had made up a good portion of the hospital staff, but with the clan obliterated the hospital was always short staffed and Kenichi was rarely home anymore.

She poured dono a bowl of dog food and grabbed left overs from this morning, dono ate while Akira ate, as always, dono climbed the stares while akira cleaned her dish as always, dono laid on her bed while Akira poured a bowl for the neighbor hood strays and waved to the neighbors, then Akira came inside and grab that weeks allowance like always.

But today was different from any normal day, today she would start her life mission today her new life as the Kunoichi medic of team 7 began.

* * *

Dono laid his head on her ever growing chest as she stared at the ceiling, if she could, she would be at her desk writing her plans on paper, but she couldn't do that it was to dangerous.

So she opted to recite them in her head until she had them memorized.

Step 1 attempt to team up with Sasuke and Naruto

Step 2 when Sasuke says no she'll just team up with Naruto

step 3 try to get the bells from kakashi and Badger Sasuke at the same time

Here's were things got a little more complicated.

Step 4 if Naruto got tied to the post she would feed him and try to get Sasuke to help

Step 4 alt ending if Sasuke got tied to the tree get Naruto to feed him with her

Step 4 alt ending 2 if Akira got tied to the tree try to get Naruto to feed her

But as they say "the plan never lives through first contact with the enemy" or something like that.

Akira sighed as she affectionally scratched dono's head which he returned with a lick to the chin, and she smiled, finally, she was making progress.

* * *

That night Akira went to bed early.

She woke up at 2 am and ate breakfast, poured some for when dono woke up then she changed into her black sleeveless turtleneck shirt, purple bell choker, and shorts that were a few inches above her knee, bandaged her calf's, put on her wrist and ankle weights, and laid with Dono until her 4:40 alarm went off.

* * *

She made it to the training ground before Naruto but after Sasuke.

"I don't think sensei is gonna show up" Naruto said staring at the sky, the sun had risen an hour ago with no sign of there severely late sensei.

"Maybe this is some type of training, in my mother country there is this interrogation were you leave your victim in a room with nothing to do for hours on end to see if they break" Akira replied while throwing a kunai into the middle training post.

"I didn't know you were from another country" kakashi said as he shunshined behind her.

Naruto and Akira let out girlish screams in unison while Sasuke jumped, but that was the only sign he was startled.

"kakashi-sensei, your late!" All 3 said in unison.

"Sorry a black cat crossed my path on my way here so I had to take another route." Kakashi coughed and said.

"Now that's enough of that."

Kakashi pulled a clock out of his bag and said " this here is set for noon, your assignment is very simple."

"Get these bells from me before noon and you pass. Failure to complete this mission will lead to you getting tied to one of these posts and no lunch." Oh right, she forgot they were not supposed to eat breakfast, she thought as Sasuke and Naruto's stomaches growled.

"But sensei there are only two bells." Akira said filling in for Sakura even if she already new what would happen.

"That way one of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately fail,that person will get sent back to the academy."

* * *

As soon as kakashi said go Akira grabbed the back of Naruto's collar and ran into the bushes after Sasuke.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Naruto yelled as he tried to get out of Akira's surprisingly strong grip.

"Stopping you from doing something stupid." She whispered as she went after Sasuke.

"Who're you calling stupid!" Akira slapped her hand over Naruto's mouth and said "listen there's no way we can defeat a Jounin, I think there's something more to this." She let out a harsh breath and ruffled her hair with her free hand "Shinobi are all about seeing underneath the under neath right, so I was thinking, there has to be something more to this exercise."

Naruto passed squinted his eyes at her and stared for a minute "fine we'll get Sasuke and listen to your plan." Akira let out a sigh of relief and peeked there the tree she dragged Naruto up "alright I think we have a few minutes before kakashi goes after us let's go."

* * *

They found Sasuke on a tree a bit away from there's.

As soon as he saw them he turned to leap away, Akira tackled him and they would have fell out the tree had Naruto not grabbed Akira's arm "Sasuke wait I have a proposition!" She yell whispered "no thanks you'll only way me down." Sasuke grunted out trying and failing to free himself from the girls surprisingly strong grip. Akira squeezed Sasuke's chest "do you really think you can beat a Jounin, you can't even get out of the grip of a girl shorter then you" Akira was actually a very strong girl she wore waited wrist and ankle bands, and Taijutsu was alway her strongest skill but Sasuke didn't need to know that right now.

Sasuke went still in her grip, and she took it as a invitation to continue "Shinobi are all about seeing underneath the underneath, and Konoha's Shinobi are known for being tree huggers that put a lot off stock in team work." At this point Akira let go as Naruto and Sasuke stared at her intensely "besides there's never been a 2 man Genin cell before." Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he said.

"what do you think the real test is."

Akira's heart jumped as she realized she had both boys undivided attention "I think he's testing our team work." The boys adopted incredulous expressions and Akira hurried to finish here proposal "think about it the graduation rate is nine, a number that can't be divided into 2 but can be divided into 3." Akira lend in and finished saying "there's also the famous Yamanaka,Nara,and Akimichi trio, that can't be separated and they were all put on the same team."

Naruto smiled big and said "alright, I'm on boarded!"

Sasuke Huffed and conceded "what's the plan."

* * *

Kakashi was beginning to get worried.

He had seen hide nor hair of the Genin hopefuls, and lunch was growing nearer every minute.

Suddenly Naruto launched himself head first at kakashi kunai's blazing just as kakashi was going to block his kunai, nose still in Icha Icha, he separated into a hoard of clans that climbed on to Kakashi like monkeys.

When he managed to dispel clone blocking his vision he saw Akira running at him.

He threw Naruto towards the river and grabbed the little girls incoming fist and pinned her face down on the ground.

* * *

Akira struggles fruitlessly under Kakashi's grasp, she only had one free foot.

Suddenly a terrible idea came to her.

She stilled and lined her foot up with Kakashi-sensei crotch, and smashed her foot as hard as she could.

She gave a thumbs up to near by Sasuke and Naruto shaped blur rushed forward, as their sensei let go and yanked himself away with hesitation they all leaped for the bells at the same time.

Akira's hands got there first, as she was the closest, she yanked the bell off her choker and put it in her hands with the rest and she scampered away Naruto and Sasuke huddled on each side of her "you can't fail one of us if you don't know who has the real bell!" Both Naruto and Sasuke grabbed a bell from Akira's hand.

Kakashi stared in shock he didn't think a kid muchless a little girl would have the guts to kick him in the groin.

"You... pass."

Akira's triumphant expression turned to a relieved expression as she fell to her knees.

Sasuke had the ghost of a smile cross his lips.

And Naruto smiled big and wide as he yelled "HOORAY WE DID IT WE PASSED!" With one fist in the air.

Akira smiles and raised a fist weakly.

Step 1 become a Shinobi was completed


	3. The Dangerous C Rank To The Land Of Wave

The after noon of the Genin exam...

* * *

"I thought our plan had failed for a sec!" Naruto gulped down his broth before continuing "then Akira kicked Kakashi-sensei in the crotch can you believe it!" Iruka cringed at the thought "I know right it looked so painful I could almost feel it by just watching!" "So any way I leap out and tackle Kakashi-sensei..."

* * *

Sasuke stabbed his fork into the tomato listlessly, he was a Genin now, but not strong enough to kill him yet, but today was a mile stone, he was one step closer to avenging his clan.

* * *

Akira dangled her legs of the edge of her living room sofa, Dono was curled up on the doggy bed under a tall coffee table.

The dog opened its lazy eyes and rolled out from under the coffee table. Akira's eyes strayed from her book on the clan era to her dog walking up the stairs

Checking the clock confirmed it was nowhere near 10 pm, Akira set her book face up on her coffee table and followed the old blood hound up the stairs and down the hallway of the only portion of the house she used.

The Suzuki compound looked like a two story traditional Japanese house, however it was shaped like a picture frame, the house being the frame and the garden and training ground being the picture. It was a bitch to clean.

Akira and Dono met in the middle of the hall and the dog set down a leash and collar in front of her, Akira cupped the old dogs wrinkled face and said "it's been a while since you've wanted to go for a walk." Dono wagged his tail and Akira put Dono's rarely used collar on him.

"I need to pick up some heavier weights from anyway."

was a retired Kunoichi with a Chunin son named Aishi

" I'm hear for the weights I ordered." Akira said as she unhooked Dono's leash and he trotted over to 's counter and laid down

The old lady smiled resignedly and yelled for her son to get the weights as she set down her favorite fan was not to be trifled with in her youth, her main weapon in her had been a fan she made her self. The old lady gave that love for weapon making to her son that now made the weapons and took most commissions the store got. Commissions had been one of the main reasons Akira had become a regular as finding weights heavy enough to train with had grown harder over the years, she had opted to have them custom made.

"At this rate you'll be short forever." The old lady said as Aishi set the weights in front of her

"Hey Akira." Aishi said quickly before scampering back into his workshop covered in soot.

"A small price to pay for killer biceps." Akira joked flexing her thin preteen arms.

chuckled as she grabbed another box from behind the counter.

"Aishi made something we thought you'd be interested in. He made it with your fighting style in mind." leaned forward excited

Akira pulled out her wallet and said "what is it?" As she counted out the correct amount of Ryo "brass knuckles."She set the ryo on the counter and said "show me."

set it on the table and said "try it!"

As Akira tested them out explained them. "There made to conduct lightning chakra which is your main element, the lightning goes of when it meets another persons skin or you pump chakra in them, and there made to be put in a weapons pouch and put on at a moments notice, like grabbing a kunai." The brass knuckles were simple but not boringly so, they looked normal like your everyday thug brass knuckles, but they were light and when Akira put them on it felt like a natural part of her body.

"How much."

"50,000 ryo."

"50,000 ryo?! That's way to underpriced for something of this quality!" scratched her chin and fake pondered "well normally it's 110,000 but you get a discount since it was modeled for your fighting style, and your a regular here which gives you special deals."

"I'll buy it for 100,000 ryo."

"To high your a regular ands basically made for you, I'll sell it for 70,000 ryo and that's my last offer."

Akira pouted as she counted out the ryo and handed it to

opened her fan and said "pleasure doing business with you kid"

* * *

"Sasuke, I'm at point A."

"Akira, I'm at point B."

"Naruto, I'm at point C dattebayo."

The team of Genin crept through the forest and slid against trees.

"What's your distance from the target?"

"Five meters." Sasuke whispered with eyes locked on there target.

"Ok..." kakashi paused for a second before yelling.

"Now."

The three Genin sprung into action and sasuke, being the closest, grabbed Tora by the scruff of her neck and held her away.

"We got him dattebayo."

"Right mission completed, lost cat Tora found."

Naruto groaned and muttered "I hate cats."

* * *

The Daimyo's wife showered Tora with unwanted affection as Naruto laughed.

"Now then, for squad sevens next mission we have several available Missions... " the sandaime said in a bored tone.

"Among them are baby sitting the chief counselors son, helping his wife with her shopping, helping dig up pota-"

"NO! I wanna go on a real mission! Something exciting not this little kid stuff!" A lump formed in Akira's throat, so this is it, the wave mission. "For once I agree with Naruto, we need something more challenging." Sasuke said.

Akira pushed back her anxiety and said in a meek tone. "I agree we not going to get any stronger if we keep on doing the same things over and over again."

Kakashi stared at the three with a sweat drop, he new this was coming.

"How dare you! You're just brand new Genin with no experience! You need these missions to develop your skills!" Iruka roared as he preformed his big head no Jutsu.

"These aren't missions, there just glorified chor-"

Akira spaced out, she would watch but she had seen this scene many a times in her youth and there was no point in paying attention to it, the young Kunoichi's mind wandered off to Icha Icha, when she had come to terms with her new home she had tried to get a copy of Jiraiya's book but being a 6 year old no one would sell the book and she was not curious enough to steal it, she could wait till she was an adult, or maybe borrow Kakashi-sensei's copy.

Speaking of boinking did she count as a virgin again? This body has never experienced anything like that, but Akira had memories of embracing her wife Nana. Wait, did Nana still count as her wife? She loved Nana, but not in the same way she had loved Nana, now she was a distant treasured memory, like her first love, which Nana had actually been."

Speaking of romance, would she ever get married again? Who would she marry? Sasuke was off the table, cause as much as she thought her self a replacement for Sakura she was not Sakura. Besides she wouldn't be able to stand a husband that was never home. Naruto was a maybe, however Akira saw him as a good friend maybe even a little brother. It would be a comfortable happy relationship, it would be like marrying your best friend because you know and trust them, not because you love them. Ino? Yeah that was a big fat no, the girl looked a lot like Nana but she acted nothing like Nana. Akira wasn't looking for a replacement besides Ino was probably straight. Then the thought of Neji came to her, Neji had been Akira second favorite character, the first being Naruto which was Cheesy but true. Neji seemed to be the most likely candidate, Akira could learn to love Neji. Now she had to think of some way to get his attention and court him, Neji was the sort of person that would prefer to be courted the old fashion way right? Saying she did decide to marry Neji.

"So be it," Akira's inner monologue, much like what Sakura had with her inner self, went to a screeching halt it was time for the important part if this scene to start Hiruzen was about to assign them the wave mission. "I'll be giving you a C rank mission, you'll be body Guards on a journey." Naruto turned to Hiruzen excitedly and yelled "Who! Who! Are we guarding a lord? Or maybe a princes?" Hiruzen smirked, and Akira could almost hear the trademark drum role. "Don't be so hasty, I'll introduce him now."

Now came the introduction, a wave of nostalgia hit Akira as she watched Naruto get angry about Tazuna calling him short. Then he explained the bridge, ah youth, those days when she would get bullied for being both Mexican and Asian. Then come home an read the newest volume of Naruto that she had to get her grandma on her dads side to send because she couldn't get it in a small town on the coast of Texas. Honestly moving to Canada had been a total culture shock, the people were so much nicer and for the most part didn't care about her race. Oh wait she was monologuing again, and they were leaving. She still had one thing to ask

"Wait, Tazuna!" The old man walking out the door stopped and turned his eyes to her then grunted out a "what?"

"You live on a island right?"

"Does your area have-" Akira cut her self off, she had forgotten the Japanese word for (crabs)

"Um I can't remember the word in Japanese, but they have pinchers and a hard shell and if you walk in deep water bare foot they cut your feet." Akira rung her fingers. How could she forget such a simple word?

"You mean crabs?" The old man slurred

"Yeah! Crabs do you have any?" Akira brightened

"yeah loads."

* * *

That day Akira dropped Dono off at 's shop and got a list of the things she should pack from Aishi with the little things that were necessary for a Kunoichi to pack and a book on the on the hyakugo seal also known as the reserves seal a seal only mastered by Tsunade, and in another timeline Sakura.

They would be leaving the next day.

* * *

Naruto looked around in interest.

This was the first time he had been out of the village and he was excited.

Akira couldn't stop staring at him with a small goofy looking grin, Naruto was so young and excited. Watching him was like watching a puppy and sasuke was starting to send her weird looks she should look away or make a distraction.

* * *

"Walking, walking, walking. Why couldn't have come from some where else like the mountains." Akira said as they stepped onto a bridge

"What do you mean, wouldn't going up mountains be more work?" Naruto commented in confusion. "I happen to like hiking Akira pouted. Hiking had been one of Akira's favorite things to do, when Nana wanted to do something special for her she took Akira hiking. Which meant more to Akira then you'd think, it just so happens that Nana hated physical activity of any kind and just looking at it made her winded.

Suddenly chain burst out the trees and rapped around kakashi seemingly killing him in the process, this sent the three Genin into a flurry of action as the two missing Nin appeared behind Naruto

Akira slipped on her brass knuckles and charged the knuckles as she stepped in front of Tazuna and muttered "stay behind me." While sasuke stopped the two missing Nin about to kill Naruto. One of the missing Nin stopped their attack and charged at Akira which she responded to by charging as well, decking him letting out the lightning chakra in the process. The other Nin came from behind to attack Tazuna when a arm closed around his throat, the arm of one Kakashi Hatake.

"Kakashi-sensei!" The three Genin said in unison

In place of Kakashi's mangled corpse was a few logs scattered.

"I'm Sorry I let you get hurt like that Naruto, I just didn't expect you to freeze up like that." Man, actually looking at it in person Kakashi's acting wasn't that good. Kakashi-sensei turned his head to sasuke then Akira " good job sasuke, good job Akira."

Naruto's shame was visible.

Akira softly bonked her fist on Naruto's head and said in a gentle voice "hey don't get to worked up over it, that was your first Ninja battle, I'm sure there are plenty more in your future." Naruto stared at Akira as his expression morphed into one of determination and he nodded. Akira couldn't help but coddle him, she knew she shouldn't but she couldn't help it, when she had came to this world, she was a women ready to take the next step in life and adopt a child and Naruto was still just a kid.

"Naruto we need to deal with your wound." This brought Naruto's attention to his hand the blood was seeping out in a slow stream " you have to open the wound and bleed it out so don't move."

* * *

Some where else in the world a "business man" and a missing Nin were having a argument.


	4. Pt2Dangerous C Rank To The Land Of Wave

Akira took careful measured breaths, she focused on the gentle yet unnerving sway of the boat, Tazuna's monologue, the rise and fall of Naruto's chest, Kakashi-Sensei's fiddling with the plate on his glove, the quiet chime of her bell every so often, anything but the future, anything but the impending, unneeded, yet needed death, what would be the first of many failure to save those undeserving of death.

* * *

Kakashi pulled back the foliage to reveal a white rabbit, much to Naruto's horror, the young Genin rushed over and Akira grabbed the animal by the scruff of its neck

"What do you say Tazuna, we could bring this little guy to your house and cook up some rabbit stew," Akira said stroking her non-existent goatee

"No way!" Naruto yelled in shock. "come on, don't knock it till you try it." A cheeky grin grew on Akira's face

Sasuke sweatdropped

In an instant, they were all down on the ground. A giant sword stabbing into the wall next to them and a man standing on said sword

* * *

The shadow shuriken transformed into Naruto and he threw a kunai at Zabuza, causing the man to pull his arm out the water prison and let Kakashi out.

The real fight began

Zabuza oozed killing intent as he spun the shuriken to attack Naruto. Before he could throw it Kakashi stopped the spinning blade with his hand.

Naruto fell into the water with a splash while Kakashi pushed back the blade and flung it into the distance

* * *

The water vortex pushed Zabuza uncontrollably and he slammed against a tree

As the tides subsided multiple kunai hit his limbs and their Kakashi was standing on the tree behind him.

"How... can you see into the future?"

"Yes, and this is your last battle." two senbon came in from Zabuza's right and stabbed his neck. His eyes rolled back as he crashed to the floor and a masked figure appeared

"You're a hunter Nin from Kirigakure I assume."

"Yes, that's right."

"Thank you, I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time."

The hunter Nin appeared with a slight gust of wind next to Zabuza "Your battle is over for now, and I must discard the body properly." They said as they hefted the man onto their back "please excuse me, farewell." they disappeared

"Sorry for causing all this trouble, you can rest at my place as a thank you," Tazuna said with an apologetic expression. Kakashi let out a sigh "common, we got to get a move o-" suddenly he collapsed

"Kakashi-sensei!" The Genin yelled as they ran over to him

* * *

"Tazuna can you carry Kakashi-sensei for us"

"you're strong capable shinobi, why can't you do it." Akira pouted before switching to a damsel in distress pose "its the least you could do saying this is your doing , " Akira's eyes watered up in fake innocence " we're just innocent genin, what if he had actually killed Kakashi-Sensei, we would be left all alone with no one to protect us! It would be all your fa-" " Okay, okay I get it!" Tazuna grunted as he hefted Kakashi's limp body on to his back.

* * *

The three Genin stepped into the room

Akira was the first one to plop down on Kakashi's right. "ah, Kakashi-Sensei, your not dead I'm glad I don't have to drag your corpse all the way back to Konoha." She said in mock politeness

"I appreciate your concern," Kakashi said with a sweat drop as Akira help him sit up, he could almost hear her screech of 'Kakashi-Sensei! You could have died, leaving three unattended genin!'

Kakashi mulled it over for a second before saying "I don't think Zabuza is dead."

"But we saw his body dattebayo!" Naruto yelled

"In fact, I don't think that was a real hunter Nin."

"So we're going to start training tomorrow."

"Yesterday you helped me defeat Zabuza, this means you've all grown, Naruto, you've grown the most." Akira turned her eyes, to Naruto he really had grown, and she was so proud. Is this what being a mother felt like? She didn't like it, to nerve-racking.

"Really? So this means things are gonna get better dattebayo!"

"Nothings gonna get better!"

The boy ran to his grandpa and hugged him as his mom admonished him for being rude," Mom, don't you see these people are gonna die, Gato is too powerful!"

"What did you say you brat, I'm a super cool Ninja and I'm gonna be Hokage, I'm a strong Ninja and a real hero!" Naruto yelled

"There's no such thing as a Hero, you're just gonna die like everyone else that tries!" This statement pissed Naruto off and Akira grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit despondently as he tried to fight the kid.

"Listen up brat you know what a super ninja is? Well, that's me but a whole lot better!" Naruto fist-pumped as he continued "I don't care who this Gato or Chocolato is, he's nothing compared to a hero like me!"

"There's no such thing as hero's, Your just full of stupid ideas!"

"What'd you say!" naruto yelled as Akira pulled him into an apathetic headlock

"If you wanna stay alive go home." Inari finished as he walked towards the door

* * *

"Focus the chakra to the soles of your feet and use it to connect to the tree, as simple as that."

"Um, sensei."

"Yes, Akira?"

"Well you see-" she walked up to the tree and planted a foot on it ", I already know how to do that."Akira placed her other foot on the tree and walked until she was standing next to her sensei a hint of bashfulness on her face.

"Ah, I see." He pulled out two kunai and threw them, landing in front of the two of the male members of team seven. "Well then, Sasuke, Naruto, practice your tree walking."

He walked down the tree and stopped in front of the boys turning his head to Naruto, "Naruto At this rate Akira has a better chance at becoming Hokage then you." Akira grinned and rubbed her chin thoughtfully "I think my first order when I'm Hokage will be to make the weekend grilled meat only days", Akira cackled "ehhh! No ramen on weekends?! That's torture!" Kakashi and Sasuke sweat dropped "No way I'm letting Akira become Hokage!"

He pulled the kunai out the ground and ran as fast as he could up the tree. Akira let out a satisfied sigh, ah, Kakashi understood now, the girl was getting naruto fired up, smart.

She linked her arm with Kakashi's, "its time to start with my training!"

Kakashi sweatdropped as Akira pulled him along excitedly

* * *

"If I may ask, who taught you how to tree walk, and why?" Kakashi asked, helping her hold steady on shaky legs above the gently swaying ocean water.

Akira paused and thought about her answer, she knew he knew the person who taught her how to tree walk, but he didn't know she knew.

"Ah, uh some ninja in the village, he's usually out on missions but I often run into him while he's in Konoha," Akira paused before tacking on, "my, uh, legal guardian also provided me with some books to teach my self, he said my chakra coils were underdeveloped so I should work them out." Akira hummed she hadn't thought about him since his last visit. With the events that were going to transpire, he would likely be in town.

* * *

It had been a normal day, partly cloudy and cool, she had been on her way home from a hospital check-up, or, well, she had a check up and Hovered around until he had given in to the nurses demands to send her home.

Out of the corner of her eye, a shit ton of white hair and a perverted grin as he peaked through a hole in the bathhouse and wrote down furiously. A unreadable feeling pooled in her stomach, She couldn't help it, Akira had always had a restraint problem.

Jiraiya likely already knew she was there, but he didn't say anything or indicate he noticed her presence, she crouched do and leaned over his shoulder to get a peek of the rushed shitty writing,

"you missed spelled 'excitedly'."

He let out a squeal and hid the paper from her sight. She tilted her head in fake confusion," what's an orgasm?" He flushed and stuttered "I- well, you-ah it's like- um," he stopped and stared into innocent curious eyes, he coughed and muttered," ask your Mom," Akira dusted off her shorts and plopped down next to Jiraiya," I don't really have a Mom anymore" Jiraiya pursed his lips," but I do have , but he's not that good at talking, he is smart though," she crossed her legs and tucked her hands in her lap," is my doctor, he says his job is to make sure I don't die."

Jiraiya huffed and squinted his eyes," shouldn't you be at school or something kid? How about you scram." Akira looked at the papers curiously "I'm not old enough to go to the Shinobi Academy,"

"What about the civilian academy? Shouldn't you be there then" Jiraiya pushed the papers behind him," says I'm too sick"

Jiraiya grunted and got up "your really ruining my research runt," turned and walk away unknowingly leaving his research, for Akira to pick up and take back to the Suzuki compound.

* * *

The next day Akira walked to the bath house clutching a fully, thoroughly, edited stack of 'research' papers.

When she got there she found a disgruntled Jiraiya pacing in a slightly more hidden area behind the bath house, she ran up to him and tugged on his sleeve, " I have your papers," Jiraiya snatched the papers the moment he laid eyes on them, furiously Looked through them shoulders gradually becoming less tense.

"You, corrected my grammar?" Akira's head bobbed up and down exuberantly nodding Jiraiya looked through the papers, she was starting to get light headed, a dopey grin spreading on her face, "what's with that face runt!" Jiraiya Glowered, "Ah sorry," she slapped her cheeks lightly, "I'm just really happy that, I decided to make Jiraiya my friend!" A vain bulged on Jiraiya's forehead as he stretched, "I'm not your friend runt!"

And it went like that, sitting with a reluctant Jiraiya turned to talking with a reluctant Jiraiya, which turned to eating with Jiraiya, and much to Jiraiya's confusion, fawning over pretty women with Jiraiya until rumors started spreading that Jiraiya of the Sannin had developed a taste for younger girls much to his disgust.

* * *

Akira shook her head and yanked a crab out the water listlessly, "Hey sensei, don't you think we should go back?" Kakashi looked away from his favorite book towards the sky and sighed," hmmm, I guess."

The Genin got up to lift the box and proceeded to fall face-first into the sand, "uh, sensei-" Kakashi looked up from his book as she pulled her face out of the sand, "I can't stand," her face turned a color akin to the Uzumaki hair.

* * *

"Sensei?" Akira adjusted her arms on Kakashi's neck

"Hm?"

"Say one day you were suddenly forced out of Konoha- and away from everyone you love and care for, into a new life somewhere far away with no hope of returning home,"

Kakashi turned a calculating eye to his student," what would you do?" she rested her head on her sensei's shoulder, "I suppose..." he closed his eyes in contemplation, "I would live out the rest of my days as a hermit living on a mountain." His face turned into a wistful jovial expression.

"But what if you made friends with the people you met and got attached, and one day, you discover something bad was going to happen, and you could stop it but you might ruin it all if you try something," she paused and shook her head,"never mind, that was a stupid question, something like that would never happen,"She laughed to herself.

"it's not stupid, there are plenty of unexplainable things in this world," he freed one hand from under her leg to pat her head," I suppose I would do my best, to make the people I care for happy."

Akira paused before muttering,"Thanks, for humoring me."

He hummed in acknowledgment, Akira shook her Head and set her head back on his shoulder to rest for the rest of the way back.

* * *

She set the down the plates with a triumphant sigh," I couldn't get all the proper ingredients so I had to make some changes," Kakashi poked it with a chopstick before picking it up and taking a tentative bite, his brows raised, "this is pretty good, what is it?"

She puffed out her chest in pride and said, "I use to help my mom make since it was my dads favorite," she scrunched her nose and paused looking down at the food "I-" She deflated and hunched her shoulders,

"I- can't remember, can't the name."

Akira stared at the food in her hand, what was it called? It was a simple name, how could she forget, it was her dads' favorite dish, right? Or maybe her moms she had been the Mexican one-

Or maybe it was her Dad?

This was so simple, how could she forget something like that about her own pare-

"Well, the name doesn't really matter as long as it tastes good." Naruto exclaimed taking a bite.

She clenched her fist and muttered," yeah."

* * *

"G' morning," Akira muttered through a dry throat, her fault for falling asleep with her mouth open," where are the boys?" She said looking around listlessly, "Sasuke is still asleep and Naruto is out training," She hummed in acknowledgment as she took her seat

"Ma, Akira, you don't have to get up this early, considering how hard water walking was on your chakra coils I wouldn't be mad at you for sleeping in," Kakashi said as Akira plopped down at the breakfast table.

The girl waved her hand dismissively, "I'm fine," she developed a determined expression as she continued," I have to work hard," She fist-pumped as she looked to the ceiling,

"To get a super awesome six-pack!"

"Ah,what dedication," Tsunami said as she placed a bowl in front of the Kunoichi, "you kids really are working har-", Akira face planted into the bowl, causing tsunami to let out a yelp as Kakashi rushed over to the genin, He pulled her face out the soup," is- is she ok?" Tsunami said kneeling down next to him in a quiet voice. Kakashi's sweatdropped as he realized-

"She fell asleep."

* * *

The day was uneventful Sasuke and Naruto were cleared to guard Tazuna, Akira slept, and a certain missing-nin waited.

* * *

Akira walked numbly to her fate, she wondered if Kenichi would check up on her, maybe Jiraiya would go out for grilled meat with her as celebration, if he was even in town.

Akira's eyes lit up in excitement as she turned to her sensei," Hey, sensei, when we get back to Konoha, we should celebrate our first C Rank!" Kakashi blinked before slouching and patting her head," yeah sure, you've all grown so much I think that calls for celebration."

"Tch, as if I'd wanna hang around you and Naruto more then I have to, lame, I'll pass."

"No way your getting out of this!"

Kakashi watched the two kids squabble the whole way there, it some how seemed incomplete with out Naruto there, maybe that was a good sign, they were growing closer as a team.

* * *

Haku's hands formed signs in rapid succession and a multitude of ice senbon formed around them

As the ice senbon shot down Haku jumped away only for shuriken to force him back even farther. There Sasuke was in the air, he had escaped the senbon and was smirking. He landed and appeared behind Haku, who whipped, they turned into blurs as they moved quickly senbon clashing against kunai. Sasuke kicked Haku and he slid back, ending up at the feet of Zabuza.

"Thought you were quicker huh, What else are you wrong about?" Sasuke smirked in triumph.

"That's what you get for calling them brats, Sasuke may not look it but he's the best young rookie of the hidden leaf village, and Akira here is our second best-"

"Hey what do ya' mean second best! I could take Sasuke in a fight!"

"And last but not least Naruto Uzumaki, our number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja." Kakashi finished with a sweatdrop

* * *

Naruto sneezed and rubbed his nose.

"You know Naruto, they say when someone's talking about you, you'll sneeze."

"Huh."

* * *

Senbon shot out from every angle and crashed into the kunai Sasuke was holding, sending it flying and landing at the feet of Akira.

Fuck, this was her cue. Did she do something like Sakura did that would be ultimately useless or did she actually try to save him?

Sasuke develops the Sharingan here. She could likely stop Haku all she had to do was drop her weights and switch positions with Sasuke. Right now was a pivotal moment that will ultimately be very important to Sasuke's growth though.

All right, all she had to do was wait for Sasuke to pass out then she could Interfere which would stop the Kyuubi too.

Akira was drawn out of her thoughts by Haku hitting the ground and a large plume of smoke.

Naruto was finally heard.

Now all she had to do was wait to see Naruto holding Sasuke through the space in the ice mirrors.

* * *

She put her weights down carefully, Tazuna's bridge could probably handle the weight of a few cars but just dropping them would do some actual damage to the bridge.

She had never gone a day without them since she had first bought a pair from and her movements Were more than Ten times as fast when she ran past Kakashi and Zabuza then slammed straight into Haku's ice mirrors destroying a little less than half

"Naruto takes Sasuke and protect Tazuna," She crouched protectively over the boys as she ushered them out.

After they left she turned to Haku and said: "I won't let you hurt them."

* * *

The ice mirrors slowly formed back up as Akira and Haku had a staring contest from there respective positions.

Akira could beat Haku in pure strength no doubt about it, but Haku was tactical and brute strength wasn't everything. However, at some point, pure strength just beat it out and Akira was hoping to whatever god that had flung her half dead into this world that she was at a strength level that outweighed Haku's tactical skills and speed with those damn senbon.

Haku was the first one in action sending a wave of senbon from every direction stabbing Akira in non vital areas

Akira whiped around wildly punching every mirror she could and sending cold rushes of air through the ice enclosure.

Eventually Haku burst out a mirror, and Akira clashed brass knuckles to rolled back and Haku pursued her but instead of fighting back, Akira's fist slammed into Haku's gut sending a jolt of electricity and the boy went crashing through the only remaining ice mirror and continue to roll until he hit the ground with a thud

Akira ran to him high on adrenaline and a desire to live,as Haku stood up weakly likely to fall over any minute. Akira's fist stopped inches from Haku's face, breaths heavy she lowered her shaking fist.

"Why?.."

"Why what?" Akira answered through labored breaths

"Why have you not killed me."

"Do you not really care about your comrades?"

"To show mercy to the people that appose your precious people."

"This is a betrayal to the people you swore to protect." Haku advanced slowly and Akira pitied him.

"Girl, kill me." Akira couldn't, she wouldn't, Haku was still needed. Akira hated her self for interfering with this, Naruto could do more for Haku, there was already a connection between the two that Akira knew would have brought Haku some kind of comfort. This was not her place, not her role, not her world, not her home, not her-

But, she could make it her home, she could have team seven (her) team, make this world (her's)

"I can't."

"Why not."

"Because in just a few second (my) sensei is gonna kill your precious people,and as long as you have two working legs use them, go to him Haku, go to your precious person." Akira looped a arm around Haku and guided the boy slowly towards the two Jounin's battle. She thought about her useless sensei and pervy old man friend and her two young and stupid teammates,

She thought about Kenichi's tired happy face when he would take a break to spend time with her, and a old dog that loved resting it's head on her stomach.

* * *

Akira stopped walking when she saw the beginnings of the Chidori light, "he's about to kill him." Akira let go of Haku as he started preforming hand Signs.

* * *

A gust of wind blue past as kakashi's chidori made contact with Haku. They stared in horror as blood gushed out the wound, sparks of lightning still surrounding kakashi's hand.

* * *

Kakashi jumped back as zabuza's blade was flung from his now useless arm

"What will you do now Zabuza." "Both your arms are useless."

Zabuza seethed, The clack Of gatos Cain was loud in the silence. "He really did a number on you Zabuza, you look like yesterday's sashimi."

"I must say you've disappointed me." Gato prodded at Haku's corpse "oh that reminds me, I never punished this thing for breaking my arm." Gato sent a hard kick, "Why you-" naruto growled in anger, "get away from him!" Naruto ran at Gato but kakashi grabbed him before he could reach the short man.

* * *

Akira paused in pulling senbon out of sasuke to watch the beginnings of Naruto's talk no jutsu in action, it was actually quite fascinating and watching Zabuza cry was.. odd

* * *

"You talk to much." Zabuza's voice was quiet and gravely

Zabuzas tears stained the pavement.

"Your words cut deeper than any blade."

* * *

Warm

When first began to regain consciousness it was a he could thing of, warmth traveling through his body.

Sasuke opened his eyes to the familiar sight of dull dark blue eyes. He looked down to see bloody calloused hands delicately pulling out Senbon "Good morning princess, congratulations on achieving the Sharingan." Wait what, this statement caused sasuke to shoot up and promptly get shoved back down "lay down idiot, I'm not done yet." Sasuke groaned "what happened..." "well..."

* * *

Akira helped sasuke on to his feet and turned to yell, "hey Naruto, over here!" Naruto turned to look at her and a wave of relief flooded him, sasuke was standing one hand raised in a weak wave.

* * *

Akira could almost feel the heat through her sandals, a warm sunny day.

"oh yeah, naruto when we get back to Konoha were gonna celebrate!"

"Really?! That sounds awesome!"

"Didn't I tell you I wasn't gonna spend more time then I have to with you losers."

"Well you've got no choice, you, me, Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei."

"Hm, its great to see you three getting along,"

"Oh, and Sensei's paying!"

"Hey, wait, I never agreed to that!"

As they reached the end of the bridge Akira stopped, causing a her team to stop, she looked back at the people slowly scattering out as they went back to there lives and there homes-

"Akira? What are you doing, we gotta get home," home, her teammate quirked his head cutely, her teammates, her home.

"Yeah, right, lets go home."

* * *

The story goes like this,

A girl wakes up in a place that is not home, and finds a family in a place she doesn't belong, the story goes-

A girl wakes up in a world that is not her's, so she makes it her's.


	5. I obviously missed you Asshole!

Tuesday

Akira opened the door to the Suzuki compound, home, slowly. As she pulled off her shoes she shouted "Tadaima!" Into the empty living room, her eyes caught on the open sliding door as she pulled a kunai out her pouch, she had closed that when she left. Akira slid behind the couch soundlessly and peeked around the corner-

"Okaeri!"

A smooth but tired voice responded she stilled as she processed who that voice belonged to, the kunai clattered to the ground as she went running through the sliding door into the garden, crashing into an ashy blond middle-age man," Kenichi!" She shouted as his back hit a weed-filled wheelbarrow and a shovel scattered to the ground, "Ah, Akira, I was starting to get very worried," the man answered with an unchanged face, patting her back gently he pushed her off himself.

"You smell terrible,"

Akira wiped away growing tears and muttered, "the closest thing to a bath I've had the past week is taking a break by a stream," Kenichi wrinkled his nose for a second before saying "your 3 days, 4 hours and 2 minutes late of your expected time back home," home, home, home, she fought back a smile this was her home she was home.

he looked her over, grabbing Akira's bandaged hand, Kenichi's thump started to glow as he ran it across the appendage," you have two fractured fingers and three bruised knuckles," he grew serious as he pulled Akira to her feet and said in a cold stern voice, "you're going to sit at the table and let me heal you while you tell me what happened, we also need to talk about those weights," Akira gulped before replying-

"Yes, sir." Akira blinked before asking, "oh yeah I need to speak with you about something."

"let me tend to your wounds first," he pulled off his gardening gloves as he walked to the kitchen table, the only part of the compound they used was the clan heads quarters a part of the house solely for the clan head and any spouse or kids they had. Kenichi set to washing his hands.

"Take them off."

"Take what off" Akira answered nervously, Kenichi gave her a bland look and pointed to her wrists.

"The Weights."

* * *

Kenichi enveloped Akira's hands in a warm glow, the throb in Akira's fingers slowly dissipated, and she mentally thanked Kenichi for being a medic. He was staring down intently after giving her a killing intent filled lecture about how weights would affect her growth, and she knew that so why had she done it because she didn't care about her health? Ah, that was the thing about Kenichi, for all the social skills he lacked, people were like an open book to him, he would thumb through their pages as easy as breathing and read everything on each page in a matter of seconds.

on one occasion in the safety of her room in the Konoha Hospital he had divulged his old desire to be in T.I., however, there was a price to being from a clan of only talented medics.

"So what did you need to ask me," Akira was drawn out of her musings and paused deciding the way to phrase it, how you communicate something is important when it came to Kenichi, while the words terrible and horrible meant the Same thing, she had learned from her time with him that they simultaneously implied the same thing in different ways, "I need to be a combat medic," he paused his ministrations.

"want to become, or need to be?"

"Need to be."

"He continued the jutsu as he drawled, "very well, next Monday you will be at my side from 7:00 pm until 2:00 am."

Ah, she was getting tired just thinking about what that would do to her schedule

* * *

Wednesday

Akira opened her eyes groggily, her mouth tasted gross and there was likely grass in her hair, she rolled on to her stomach and pressed her cheek to the cool grass, the weather was warm, just warm enough to take a nap, with a dusting of clouds to give her a momentary break from the heat. The days were always like this I'm Konoha as such it had become a routine thing, napping in this specific place at this specific time of day. It was a place and pass time only she knew about, well, she and Jiraiya-

Suddenly a cold object hit her back, startling her to her knees.

"Congratulations on becoming a ninja runt,"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Jiraiya!" Akira startled, she looked over to the popsicle that had dropped onto her back, the man in question sat down next to her, grabbing the popsicle and holding it out to her," Ah thank you." She took the frozen dessert.

"So, why did you seek me out?"Jiraiya twitched, "can't visit you without any alterer motive?" He plastered a lazy grin on his face.

Akira held out her hands, "just give them to me," the Sannin bowed his head as he pulled a stack of papers out his kimono and placed them in outstretched hands. Akira got to her feet and said, "as payment I want BBQ." She placed the popsicle in her mouth and set to eating it before they got to the usual restaurant.

* * *

Just moments ago...

* * *

Jiraiya poked his head into the small clearing where he sensed the girl. there she was, napping as she usually did in this clearing, he shuffled over to Akira sleeping on her back.

The toad sage blinked as he dropped the bag to his side, she had finally become a Kunoichi, finally, as in he had expected this from her, the strange little girl that asked him strange hypotheticals, and had a bit too much knowledge about the workings of girl on girl sex, he knew nothing of the kids time outside Konoha, asking the Hokage would alert him to the fact Jiraiya had been in the village multiple times without his knowledge, and she didn't talk too much about it, just brushing over the topic made her nervous like he was insinuating that he knew she had murdered somebody.

Maybe she had, maybe she murder an important person and disguised her self as a child then snuck into Konoha

The first thing that threw him off was her knowledge of his name, a thing he brushed off easily, he was famous after all, she probably recognized him, then she offered him a popsicle, a small gesture but the expectant look on her face made him suspicious, like she knew something he didn't, cemented even more when she almost cried while eating a blue popsicle, why a blue popsicles he didn't know. And then there was an off-hand comment about him ignoring important responsibility like she knew exactly what he was running from, and a sad look on one occasion he looked at the Hokage monument a bit too long.

Never the less even if she was a murderer living out the rest of her days as an unsuspecting child he needed an editor and liked having another pervert to bounce ideas off of. Jiraiya liked to imagine she had 'seen the light' so to speak and was spending the rest of her life repenting for her deeds.

A grunt pulled him out of his thoughts as she rolled onto her stomach, pressing her face into the grass. Jiraiya pulled out a popsicle, a tradition of sort for them, anytime they visited each other it would start off with a popsicle, something Akira had started and he had continued. He dropped the cold green popsicle on her back, startling her up.

"Congratulations on becoming a ninja runt,"

* * *

"I'm telling you just cut the guy out altogether," Akira pointed her chopsticks at Jiraiya from across the booth seat, "icha icha is about a guy's sexual adventures with different women how would I even do that?" Jiraiya leaned back into the well-worn booth seat and tilted his head in thought.

The Kunoichi hummed chewing on a piece of grilled meat, her arms crossed before saying, "maybe in the midst of seducing a Kunoichi she accidentally turns him into a girl with a jutsu gone awry," a gleam in Jiraiya's appeared as he contemplated "it introduces a female lead along with a reasonable explanation, a Kunoichi huh?" He rubbed his temples and muttered-" I sense..." Jiraiya pumped his fist in excitement and exclaimed, "PURPLE HAIR!" Akira nodded her head "purple hair, Busty with wide hips and pale skin, maybe a hint of a sadist.." they clasped hands in camaraderie, steam comically exited their noses.

A screech of "BE QUIET!" from a young man that had served them many a time got them huddled back in there respective seat muttering apologies. The young man placed down another round of BBQ on the table and glared as he walked away.

"So.." Jiraiya placed the meat on the grill, " who's in your team, hows it feels to be a shinobi, who's your sensei? Yada yada" he waved his chopsticks, "Ah- well I was lucky enough to get a good sensei," Akira sweat nervously.

"Hatake Kakashi, he- uh seems to be a fan of your books you ever met?" Jiraiya paused, "yeah, I've met him on a few a cations, he's a strong shinobi but I didn't think he would ever take on a Genin squad."

"Yeah well I got the pleasure of having the last Uchiha on my squad so what do you expect, I'm also planning to apprentice."

"Ah that actually reminds me," Jiraiya blushed, grinning large and confidently like he wasn't nervous," do you wanna maybe- uh, apprentice, with me? I was also thinking you could maybe take the toad?" He lowered his head hiding his face before picking it up and saying in a haughty voice," you just seemed so pitiful that I had to, an average Kunoichi with no special ability? you wouldn't last a day with the big kids-" suddenly a thin object poked the tip of his nose, the thin object being the holding end of a chopstick.

"Jiraiya, I'll be fine," Akira smiled knowingly leaning over the table to reach him," I was the best Kunoichi in my class, I promise I'll survive no matter what," she sat back in her seat.

"I'll study and train so I can become an amazing medic Nin and keep my teammates safe, besides I'm sure there's someone out there who deserves the contract more than me...", she developed a playful grin and yelled, "then I'll finally be able to sneak up on you and I'll beat your ass!"

"hey! There's no way in hell you could beat me! Ever!" Jiraiya jumped up meeting her furious determination

"BE QUIET!"

* * *

Later that night once it was said and done and papers were edited and the restaurant was closing Jiraiya and Akira parted way, Akira sat by the river. The sun had sunken making way for the moon and every creature that inhabited the night, Akira took off her sandals and cried. These were real people, people that worried and trained and cried just like her, the pages of a manga she had adored for much of her life had sprouted living beings before her.

* * *

Thursday

Akira stretched letting out a sigh as Dono sniffed around wagging his tail.

She had decided to let Dono lead her around for a bit instead of leashing him, with no social media or video games one had to get creative with entertainment.

They were getting close to training ground seven, team 7's main training ground of choice, maybe naruto would be there. Akira scratched her chin in thought, did the bijuu chakra scare off animals or something? Wouldn't Dono move away if naruto was there?

Suddenly Dono stopped his sniffing around as if something had caught his attention, Akira casually walked closer not too worried.

The dog barked be for picking up his leisurely pace. Akira jumped before helping out "Dono!" And scrambling after.

* * *

Sasuke paused his hand signs, zeroing in on the rustling of leaves he pulled a kunai out and crept closer staring at the area at was coming from, god he hoped it isn't a fangirl he thought to himself in annoyance-

His kunai clattered to the floor as a large black dog pounced on him, knocking him to the ground "Dono! Get off the kid or I'll give you to the pound-" the familiar voice of his Kunoichi teammate entered the clearing "oh Sasuke, it's just you," a vain in Sasuke forehead bulged, 'oh Sasuke it's just you', somehow that angered him more then he'd like to admit, "get this mutt off me!" He struggled as the dog slobbered on his face.

The wait was lifted as she lifted the large dog into her arms easily, the mutt wiggled and wagged its tail in an attempt to get out her grasp," I haven't seen Dono that excited to see anyone in a while, you should feel special," " somehow if don't." she places the dog on the ground, still holding on as the thing stared intently at him.

She placed a finger on her chin, "Dono has always had a fondness for cats."

"What does that mean?" Sasuke Glared as he got up from the singed ground," Ah, well Sasuke reminds me of a grumpy cat," he gave her the stink eye and muttered," what an idiot-"

Dono knocked him to the floor once again, "oops my hand slipped~" 'teach you to call me an idiot,' the dog was back in her arms a moment later, Sasuke gritted his teeth glaring daggers, "hm, it seems your behind on your training if you can't hold back a simple dog." Smirking snidely.

Akira clenched her fist," we'll see who's behind on training when we go back to training!" Akira raised her chin in pride and crossed her arms," besides I started an apprenticeship, what have you been doing?" she didn't actually start it till Monday but he didn't need to know that.

The Kunoichi turned around calling out, "Dono!" To her dog who followed obediently. Akira turned around and waved "see you on Sunday!" He waved back weakly as she jogged off into the forest.

"What an idiot."

* * *

Friday

'Chakra stone- a mineral infused with chakra, the creation process is considered to be tedious and time-consuming. Typically made as chakra control practice and for chakra weapons.

Pure Chakra stone- a subtype of chakra stone made purely of chakra, this item is not only tedious and time-consuming but also dangerous to make without experience and high-level chakra control.'

Akira closed the brand new book and placed it into the book store bag.

The streets of Konoha were relatively empty, the children slaved over there school work and adults worked their dead-end jobs. The perfect time to go out and enjoy some cake from a nearby bakery.

Every time Akira entered a shop or restaurant she would always wonder to her self-

Would Naruto be allowed in? Would nudging the tip of his sandal through the door produce ear-splitting screams or throwing things? Konoha was a peaceful village with kind people, but Akira never failed to forget how they treated Naruto. She was pretty sure this knowledge is what kept her from making connections with too many non-canon people, hell, she was only really friends with Jiraiya, Kenichi and the Yamamoto's. Did Kenichi even count actually? He had a legal obligation to take care of her, however, himself hoisted that on his self-

A shock of bright blond and kill me orange caught her attention.


End file.
